Acts 14.20-27 (Epistle)

20A kad ga opkoliše uèenici njegovi, ustade i uðe u grad, i sjutradan iziðe s Varnavom u Dervu. 21I propovjedivši jevanðelje gradu onome i nauèivši mnoge vratiše se u Listru i Ikoniju i Antiohiju 22Utvrðujuæi duše uèenika i svjetujuæi ih da ostanu u vjeri, i da nam kroz mnoge nevolje valja uæi u carstvo Božije. 23I postavivši im starješine po svijem crkvama, i pomolivši se Bogu s postom, predadoše ih Gospodu koga vjerovaše. 24I prošavši Pisidiju doðoše u Pamfiliju. 25I govorivši rijeè Gospodnju u Perzi siðoše u Ataliju. 26I odande otploviše u Antiohiju, odakle bijahu predani blagodati Božijoj na djelo koje svršiše. 27A kad doðoše i sabraše crkvu, kazaše sve šta uèini Bog s njima, i kako otvori neznabošcima vrata vjere.

John 9.39-10.9 (Gospel)

39I reèe Isus: ja doðoh na sud na ovaj svijet, da vide koji ne vide, i koji vide da postanu slijepi. 40I èuše ovo neki od fariseja koji bijahu s njim, i rekoše mu: eda li smo i mi slijepi? 41Reèe im Isus: kad biste bili slijepi, ne biste imali grijeha, a sad govorite da vidite, tako vaš grijeh ostaje.

1Zaista, zaista vam kažem: ko ne ulazi na vrata u tor ovèij nego prelazi na drugom mjestu on je lupež i hajduk; 2A koji ulazi na vrata jest pastir ovcama: 3Njemu vratar otvora, i ovce glas njegov slušaju, i svoje ovce zove po imenu, i izgoni ih; 4I kad svoje ovce istjera, ide pred njima, i ovce idu za njim, jer poznaju glas njegov. 5A za tuðinom neæe da idu, nego bježe od njega, jer ne poznaju glasa tuðega. 6Ovu prièu kaza im Isus, ali oni ne razumješe šta to bijaše što im kaza. 7Tada im reèe Isus opet: zaista, zaista vam kažem: ja sam vrata k ovcama. 8Svi koliko ih god doðe prije mene lupeži su i hajduci; ali ih ovce ne poslušaše. 9Ja sam vrata; ko uðe kroza me spašæe se, i uæi æe i iziæi æe, i pašu æe naæi.

Holy Martyr Lucillian and those with him (270)

Lucilian spent most of his life as a pagan priest. In advanced old age, he learned the truth of the Christian faith and was baptized. The conversion of so public a figure quickly attracted attention, and Lucilian was brought to trial in Nicomedia. After enduring many tortures he was imprisoned with four young Christians, scarcely older than children: Claudius, Hypatius, Paul and Dionysius. When they were brouht before Silvanos the governor, all five confessed their faith and were sentenced to death and cast into a fiery furnace. When they miraculously emerged unharmed, they were taken to Byzantium, where the four young men were beheaded and Lucillian was crucified. A maiden named Paula openly carried away the martyrs’ bodies and buried them. For this she in turn was tortured and, refusing to renounce her faith in Christ, beheaded. This was in the reign of the Emperor Aurelian. A church was built in their honor in Constantinople.

Hieromartyr Lucian (2nd c.)

He was a Roman nobleman, a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Pope Clement sent him, along with St Dionysius the Areopagite, to preach the Gospel in Gaul, ordaining them both as bishops before they left. The Emperor Domitian later sent soldiers to Rome to seize Christian evangelists. They killed St Dionysius in Rome, then, hearing of the work of St Lucian, tracked him until found him in what is now Belgium. There he was beheaded along with his two fellow-missionaries, Maxianus the priest and Julian the deacon. A church was built over his relics.

Holy Martyr Dimitri, Tsarevich of Russia (1591)

He was murdered at the age of eight by the evil designs of Boris Godunov, in the town of Uglich. After his death he appeared to a monk and accurately foretold Boris Godunov’s death. Countless miracles were worked at the grave of the Tsarevich. When his tomb was opened fifteen years after his death, his relics were found whole and incorrupt, and were solemnly buried in the Church of the Archangel Michael in Moscow.

The circumstances of Boris Godunov’s death are worth telling. He first tried to kill the Tsarevich using the strongest poison, but it had no effect. He then had the child publicly beheaded. Not long afterwards a ‘false Dimitri’ arose, claiming to be the Tsarevich, and rallied a great army against Godunov. Godunov was driven to such a desperate position that he took his own life by poison, the ‘remedy’ he had intended for the true Dimitri.